Chrysler's Challenges

Chrysler’s Challenge

With the failure of business there are many factors that should be considered. Of course, the economy, proper planning, and failure to introduce any changes to the business should all be considered when discussing the failure of any organization. In the case of Chrysler LLC, an enticing merger was considered its salvation and next the step in innovation. Unfortunately, many factors contributed to the opposite. Chrysler merged with a foreign company that wanted to force a change without studying the company itself first. Factors such as the lack of training, collaboration and the accepting the diversity by the new owners contributed to Daimler-Chrysler’s downfall.

Downfall

Chrysler’s new part owners Daimler’s from Germany failed to learn and study the culture of Chrysler first. They decided they wanted to force a change that will help salvage a company in trouble. Their idea was to merge the ideals of their native Germany to a company that was always successful as “American” image. The ideal would have been to obtain the best of both and discuss the change before the merger. Ojha (2008) “people in both organizations expected that their “merger of equals” would allow each unit to benefit from the other’s strengths and capabilities. Stockholders in both companies overwhelmingly approved the merger and the stock prices and analyst predictions reflected this optimism” (DaimlerChrysler Merger, A Cultural Mismatch?, para. 2). As time went on the change was particularly difficult on the Chrysler end. Management did not agree on the changes that were implemented by the Daimler group and positions started to be eliminated, factories started to close, and in the end the company filed for bankruptcy (Ojha, 2008). “Values differ across cultures, an understanding of these differences should be helpful in explaining and predicting behavior of employees from different countries” (Robbins & Judge, 2007, p. 125). The Daimler group did not bother...